"But, like... is she hot?"

Tiffany choked on her coffee. "Excuse me?"

Taeyeon shrugged. "This girl who's your new partner for the rest of the semester. For your sake, I'm hoping you're about to say 'yes.'"

It took a moment for Tiffany to stop gaping, and about three more to even register the words. "I mean..." She trailed off. What was she supposed to say? Yes, she thought so, of course she did? No, she's not, it was the alcohol's fault and Tiffany regretted every decision she made between the hours of roughly midnight and 4 AM on January first? She wasn't sure which part of her opinion of Jessica she even agreed with. Jessica was on her mind a lot, and the good and bad concepts revolving around her had mostly turned into a messy grey area. "She... kind of looks like a ," Tiffany compromised.

"But is it in a good way?" Taeyeon pressed, sipping her mocha expectantly.

Tiffany said, "What does it matter to you?"

To which Taeyeon replied, "So, I'll take that as a yes?"

Tiffany sighed. "Is there a point to arguing with you?"

"You know that I know what you think. I think." Taeyeon smiled a bit, holding up her mocha in a cheers motion. "You know?"

No, there really was no point in arguing. Despite the girl's supposed obliviousness and overall confusion, Taeyeon always managed to know far more than she ever let on--to Tiffany's mild (and growing) despair.

Tiffany gnawed on her straw for a moment, considering. It would not kill her to share her thoughts--perhaps it would even serve as some sort of catharsis. And it was Taeyeon, of all people--her long-time best friend and confidante, her partner in crime and literary foil.

She pressed her back against the worn cafe chair, tapping her mostly empty cup against the table. A deep inhale, and--

"How do I even know she's into girls!"

Taeyeon gently put down her cup. "Uh," she started, looking up at Tiffany with amused concern. She waved her hands in a patting motion--volume down, Fany. Her glance slid to the door as it opened, and back again. "I mean... I was under the impression that on New Year's Eve, you and--"

"God, shut up, I know that part. I meant like... what if she's the kind of straight girl that only likes girls when she's drunk?"

This time, Taeyeon nodded in understanding, or slight mockery of her distress, she wasn't sure. "We are talking about the same Jessica Jung, right?" she said.

Tiffany nodded. Her bangs threatened to break her concentration. "I only know the one."

"Good, because the Jessica I know is..." she shrugged, pressing her lips together in wry amusement and something like reminiscence. "Well, I think you're in the clear with this one."

Tiffany stared. "Hang on." She picked up her cup again. "Wait, you didn't--you and her--"

"Oh, god, no," Taeyeon spluttered, backtracking quickly. She laughed, holding up her hands in a no way motion that was less effective due to the sloshing coffee in her hand. "No, we never--look."

If her eyebrows could shoot up further, they would have, in Taeyeon's hesitancy.

"I was... intrigued in freshman year, alright? So I asked... around. I learned stuff."

"Around?" Tiffany echoed. Her mental image of Jessica Jung was already a mess.

"Not like that!" was the quick response. "This got weird really fast. I just asked some of our mutual friends, a lot of people know her. Not like that!Stop looking at me."

Tiffany frowned. She twisted the paper sleeve around her cup, trying to draw the connection before Taeyeon revealed it. "'Mutual friends?' Tae, you have like two friends, and I'm one of them."

Taeyeon shrugged. There was something Taeyeon knew that she wasn't saying, and it made Tiffany very nervous. "Well, the one singular other friend I have that's not you is Yoona. You know her? She comes here a lot, actually--"

"Im Yoona?" she interrupted, pinching the bridge of her nose. 

 “Tall girl there in the middle, see her? No, not that one, the one with the black hair—that’s Yoona. Probably breaking hearts as we speak.”

When the blonde nodded, Tiffany sighed. "Yeah, I've... heard of her, kind of," she said. “Well. I know she's friends with Jung."

"'Jung?' What is this? You've already antagonized her to the point of last-name-basis?"

Tiffany started to give her rebuttal when the someone edged into her vision. She wiped away the sarcasm and turned to give the cafe waitress a polite nod. She ignored Taeyon's not-so-subtle smugness.

The waitress shifted her weight back and forth as she spoke. "Sorry for the wait there, we had to turn the oven off earlier, and we had to wait for it to reheat, and... anyway, here's your croissant, um--" the girl glanced down at the receipt, "--Tiffany."

"That'd be me, and don’t worry, it’s no problem.” Tiffany smiled and looked to the nametag. "Thanks, Yuri."

As the girl turned to leave, Tiffany turned back in time to watch Taeyeon shove used napkins into her empty cup.

"It's been cute talking about your new crush, but I have a 1:35 class to catch two minutes ago."

"What--"

"See you at dinner!"--and Taeyeon was gone.

Tiffany sighed. Why was she friends with this one, again?

Just do it. She was an adult. She could handle this. 

Hey, it looks like we're partners for the final project. When are you free? Let me know! :)

Tiffany

Sent from my iPhone 

 That sounded casual enough, she figured. It was just an email. Real people send emails. It wasn't as if she had rewritten the two-line email six times, or anything.

You're an awful extrovert when it comes to cute people, Taeyeon had once said. Tiffany had disagreed in the moment, but the reality of it was hitting her now.

She took in a deep breath and hit send, locking her phone immediately and throwing it at her bed. When it let off a tiny ding in a minute or so though, she was scrambling to pick it up again.  

jsy20

Half an hour. Cafe by the library?

Sent from my iPhone

 Was this formal politeness or coldness? Tiffany squinted. She didn't know enough about the girl to decide if this was just how she sounded through text--not that she could much say for how she sounded out of text, either.

Sounds awesome, I'll see you there!, she typed instead of analyzing, and clenched her jaw as she continued. Here's my number, text me if you get there before me :)

She stared at the last smiley. Was it really necessary? Would she seem annoying? Fake? Like a thirsty frat boy on Tinder? At the last thought, she cringed and backspaced before sending the email with her contact info. Locking her screen again, she sighed and turned to her door.

Here we go again.

If she was being honest, Tiffany would agree to the fact that she had arrived back at the cafe absurdly soon after having just met with Taeyeon and immediately after emailing Jessica.

If one asked, though, Tiffany would say she had just arrived, and no, she hadn't been waiting long.

It's a good thing Jessica didn't care to ask.

"Hey," came the voice that Tiffany had learned to tune her attention to. "Guess I don't have to text you."

Tiffany looked up from her phone, offering her brand name Smile™. "Hey!" she said, opting out of standing to greet the girl and risking coming off too energetic. Are we going to pretend to work while avoiding the elephant in the room, or is that on the table as well?, was the first thing that threatened to leave Tiffany's mouth, and she had to force a "Want to grab some a snack before we get started?" out instead.

Jessica nodded, all dramatic beach waves and zero enthusiasm.

"Great," Tiffany said unnecessarily.

Half a cookie and some mindless review of the syllabus later, Tiffany started to feel the cracks in her composure. It wasn't the Jessica was being rude, necessarily, she was just... incredibly unresponsive.

"So, econ, huh?"

"Yeah."

"How is it? Sounds pretty intense!"

"Yep."

Tiffany gritted her teeth behind another cup of coffee. "Alright," she said, dragging the vowels. "So, any ideas for a topic?"

She wanted to hold her breath, for comparison to how long it might take for Jessica to offer an answer beyond a bland yes or no.

"Not..." the girl started, checking the time on her phone, "...really."

"That's fine," she lied through her teeth. She pulled out her own phone, opening her notes. “Last week, I compiled a short list of common topic questions to consider, feel free to look them over. Let me know if one strikes you as interesting.”

Jessica idly leaned forward, resting her elbow on the table to scroll through the list and looking entirely too similar to her pose those few weeks ago.

Tiffany closed her eyes and took a breath. This is fine.

Her project partner and root of frustration threw a bored look over the phone. “This one—’In ethics, do the ends ever justify the means?' That's so—“

"--stupid, of course not," Tiffany found herself saying at the same time Jessica said "obvious, sure they can."

"What?" Tiffany said after too many unbearable milliseconds of unbroken eye contact. "No, you can't just... can you imagine trying to justify all actions because of good intent? That's ridiculous!"

Jessica sat up a bit, narrowing her eyes. "A person can make a mistake with a good heart."

"Oh, no way. Would you let someone go on a killing spree because it's 'for the greater good' and call it a mistake? We've all read Dickens, we know utilitarianism doesn't work."

"Means doesn't equate to murder, Tiffany," Jessica scoffed, and Tiffany pretended to not note how her name sounded in her voice. "You would hesitate on risking one even if it meant saving dozens? That's called naivety, not acumen."

"Naivety?" The half-eaten cookie lay forgotten, as did the premise of note-taking. "It's called morality!"

"This isn't a morality course, this is an ethics and philosphy course," Jessica shot back, almost as fiery as her first impression. "Aren't you the pre-law one between us? Ethics are a science, and science is a numbers game. The more lives saved, the better."

It was a standing, voice-raising kind of argument that was bottled into a pseudo-friendly debate in the middle of a bustling college cafe. Tiffany had to take a moment to collect her thoughts, her breaths loud in her ears. The moment stretched on.

“Well,” she huffed, crossing her legs. She wanted to lean back in her chair, but did not want to appear as if she were admitting defeat. Her hands rapped against the wood of the table instead. “I think we found the perfect topic.”

Jessica raised a brow, running a hand through her hair. Her phone screen lit up with a text notification, but Jessica was looking right back at Tiffany. “I guess we did.”

Yes, Tiffany reflected. If Taeyeon was her literary foil, Jessica Jung was her antithesis.

////////

A/N: I’m so sorry for not replying to comments! I see the email notification and then I forget to check them, I’m so sorry. To all I haven’t replied to: thank you so much for reading. At this point, it feels a little forced to reply to comments from January, but I appreciate it a lot, trust me.
I head back to school way too soon—this summer really just escaped me. Also, Sailing 0805 killed me and I’m still in pain.
Let me know what you thought! (about this, or Sailing 0805, either way)

Chapter title from Necessary Evil, and yes, this is completely becoming my new method to blatantly promote some of my favorite songs.